Policies and Procedures

This policy is in place to ensure that our practice is accessible to all and acts as a guide to ensure visitors can plan their route into and out of the practice.

Building location

Bennfield Surgery is housed within a multi-occupancy building called Hilton House. Main reception is located on the ground floor where there are consulting rooms and a waiting room, and further consulting rooms are available, along with admin offices, on the first floor.

Normal hours

The practice is open (both doors and telephone lines) from 8:30am until 6:00pm, Monday to Friday.

Getting Here

By road

Bennfield Surgery is one of two GP practices housed within Hilton House, right in the central area of Rugby on the A426 (Corporation Street). The building is situated on the opposite side of the A426 to ASDA supermarket.

There is a small car park situated to the rear of the building which can be accessed via West Leyes. This is the 1^st left immediately after the ASDA petrol station before the Morgan Sindall building. Disabled parking spaces are available and access to the building via ramp or steps is available.

By bus

There is a bus stop immediately outside the front of the building for bus routes towards the south of the town. Other bus stops are available in the town centre which can be accessed by crossing over the road via the pedestrian crossing, passing ASDA supermarket and walking into the town centre.

By train

The nearest train station is Rugby Train Station which is 1.5 miles away. Taxis and buses are available outside the train station if you do not/cannot walk this.

Parking

The car park is shared with the other GP surgery in the building and therefore spaces are limited. If the car park is full, there are other car parks close by. The closest car park is on Westway (next to Home Bargains), which is 0.1 miles away (2-minute walk). This can be accessed by going back onto Corporation Street (A426) and taking the first left immediately after Hilton House.

Disabled parking spaces are available close to the rear entrance.

There are no height restrictions to the car park and no barrier system in operation.

The car park is free of charge for visitors to Hilton House only.

Accessing the building

 From both the rear and front entrance to Hilton House, there are steps or ramp access available.

Automatic sliding doors are in operation to enter the building from both entrances during opening hours.

When entering the building from the front, Bennfield Surgery is located on the right. When entering from the rear, it is located on the left.

There is a button on the left-hand side of the wall to automatically open the main door to enter Bennfield Surgery – this opens outwards so care must be taken once the button has been pressed.

Reception

Main reception is located directly ahead once entering the surgery and is clearly visible from the entrance.

There are no steps or slope on the route to reception.

There is a Perspex screen around reception.

The reception counter has a high-level counter and a low-level counter available.

The counter is staffed, however, if no one is there, a doorbell is available on the desk to alert staff for assistance.

There is a portable Loop available which is clearly signed, and staff are trained to use the system.

There is a waiting area in Reception which has seats provided and plenty of space for wheelchair/pushchair access.

There are 2 patient accessible toilets available in the waiting area, with both wheelchair access and baby changing facilities. There is an emergency pull cord in the toilets.

There is 1 wheelchair which is available to borrow to assist patients into the surgery, located near the reception desk.

Moving around the building

The consultation rooms on the ground floor are all on one level with no steps or ramps. There are manual doors to open to access the consulting rooms. Staff members are available to assist with opening doors if required. All consulting rooms have clear signage.

The consultation rooms on the first floor can either be accessed by one of the two lifts available in the building or via the stairs. The stairs are accessed from within reception and are clearly signed. Staff will also direct you to the correct door.

To access the lifts, exit the surgery and turn right. Both lifts are in the main foyer of the building next to each other. The lifts must not be used in the event of an emergency. Local fire evacuation procedures are in place to assist those who are unable to use the stairs without assistance. Once you exit the lift on the first floor, turn left and at the end of the corridor on the left is a door to enter Bennfield Surgery. A member of staff will have been alerted and will open the locked door to allow you access to the upstairs waiting area.

There is another patient accessible toilet on the first floor once you have re-entered Bennfield Surgery, which is to the right at the end of the corridor from the top of the stairs. There is an emergency pull cord in this toilet.

Fire exit routes and evacuation procedures

There are clear signs showing the fire exit routes in the building with signage for the fire evacuation procedures. On the first floor, there is an emergency evacuation sledge which can be used for people who are unable to use the stairs. Staff members have been trained in the safe use of this.

Emergency lighting is in place on all floors of the practice and clear signs showing fire exit routes.

Complaints Leaflet – Bennfield Surgery

We hope that most problems can be resolved quickly and easily, often at the time they arise, with the person concerned.

If your problem cannot be resolved in this way and you wish to make a complaint, we would ask that you let us know as soon as possible, ideally in a matter of days, or at most, a few weeks to allow us to establish what happened more easily. Where this is not possible, we would ask that your complaint is received:

• Within 12 months of the incident, or
• Within 12 months of you discovering that you have a problem.

Complaints should ideally be made in writing, addressed to the Practice Manager, Kayley Delaney. You can do this by post or hand deliver a written letter. Alternatively, you can request to discuss your complaint with the Practice Manager over the phone or by requesting an appointment.

It is important that you provide as much detail as possible in your complaint, with specific information, where possible.

If you are a registered patient, you can complain about your own care. You are unable to complain about someone else’s treatment without their written authority.

We believe that this will give us the best chance of resolving any issues you may have.

If you need help or advice regarding your complaint, you can contact one of the following organisations who will be able to help you:

Warwickshire Healthwatch

Phone: 01926 422823

Email: info@healthwatchwarwickshire.co.uk

Web: www.healthwatchwarwickshire.co.uk

Alternatively, you can contact your local Citizens Advice Bureau who are working in partnership with Warwickshire Healthwatch

POhWER

This is an independent complaints advice service.

Phone: 0300 456 2370

Web: www.pohwer.net

PALS (Patient Advice and Liaison Service)

PALS offers confidential advice, support and information on health-related matters and can provide point of contact for patients and their families or carers.

What we do next

We shall acknowledge your complaint within 3 working days of receipt and will aim to investigate it as soon as possible.

We will contact you to agree an appropriate timescale for providing you with a full, written, response to your concerns.

We shall then be able to offer you an explanation or meeting with the people involved.

When we look at your complaint, we aim to:

• Find out what happened and what went wrong;
• Make it possible for you to discuss the problem with those concerned, if you wish to do this;
• Make sure you receive an apology, where this is appropriate;
• Identify what we can do to make sure that the problem doesn’t happen again (including looking at our own processes where appropriate).

The final response letter will include details of the result of your complaint and your right to escalate the matter further if you remain dissatisfied with the response.

Please note that the way we respond to complaints in this practice means that we are not able to deal with questions of legal liability or compensation.

Complaining on behalf of someone else

Please note that we keep strictly to the rules of medical confidentiality.

If you are complaining on behalf of someone else, we must know that you have their permission to do so before we can communicate with you.

Written consent, signed by the person concerned, will be required before we are able to discuss the matter further.

Joint working

If your complaint concerns more than one organisation, we will need your consent to communicate with them so that we can work together to provide you with a co-ordinated response to your concerns.

If you are dissatisfied with the outcome

If you are not happy with the result of the investigation, you can ask the Health Service Ombudsman to review your complaint.

The contact details are:

Web: www.ombudsman.org.uk

Complaints helpline: 0345 015 4033

Fax: 0300 061 4000

The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman

Millbank Tower

Millbank

London

SW1P 4QP

How we are using your information – updated March 2023

Health and social care professionals across Coventry and Warwickshire are introducing two new electronic information systems to support with patient care.

The Integrated Care Record has been developed to bring together all your seperate records from the different organisations involved in your health and social care. Having a more joined-up view will mean that you will get better and potentially faster treatment.

A seperate electronic information system will also be used to analyse your informat6ion. This helps healthcare professionals to build a better understanding of your health, the circumstances in which you live, your needs, and they type of care you receive. This is know as ‘Population Health Management’.

All organisations are committed to keeping patient data safe and always being clear about how it is used. 

Your Choice

You will automatically be opted into sharing your information onto these systems, but you have the right to object at any time. 

Please see the information leaflet below for information on how to opt-out. If you do not have a smartphone and are unable to scan the QR codes, please email cwicb.cwphm@nhs.net 

How we are using your information LEAFLET

May 2024 – Two Way EMIS Sharing between Hospices and GP practice

Please see the privacy notice below for further details

Privacy Notice EMIS Data sharing

Update – July 2022 – Targeted Lung Health Checks

The Targeted Lung Health Checks (TLHC) programme is a new and ground-breaking flagship programme of work which forms part of the NHS long term plan. This is currently a pilot programme with a capped population in Coventry and Rugby and is currently being offered to select GP practices in the area. Please see the below privacy policy statement for further information.

Targeted Lung Health Checks Privacy Statement

Update – May 2022 – Fair Processing Notice

Personal data is shared with information governance-compliant organisations to search and identify individuals entitled to health care in the community, recommended by NHSE, but not provided by Practices.

Update – 21 October 2021

SHARING YOUR DATA OUTSIDE THE PRACTICE

As a result of improvements in information technology and appropriate information governance standards, it is becoming possible to share your GP records across Coventry & Warwickshire Health & Social Care electronically using the practice clinical system. We will only share this information with your explicit consent, when seeing a health worker so that you are able to allow doctors, nurses and other health and social care services in other health organisations to view the information held on your GP records. Therefore, enabling health organisations to provide an appropriate health service required to meet the patients’ needs.

The following are examples of the types of organisations that we are likely to share information with:

• NHS and specialist hospitals, Trusts
• Independent Contractors such as dentists, opticians, pharmacists
• Private and Voluntary Sector Providers
• Ambulance Trusts
• Clinical Commissioning Groups and Primary Care Networks
• Social Care Services and Local Authorities

Any patient can choose to withdraw their consent to their data being used in this way. When the Surgery is about to participate in any new data-sharing scheme we will make patients aware by displaying prominent notices in the Surgery and on our website. These schemes are only for direct care so you (or your carer) will be present when the information is accessed and will be asked for consent again, before your records are opened.

A patient can object to their personal information being shared with other health care providers and can withhold consent but if this limits the treatment that you can receive then the doctor will explain this to you at the time.

Coventry and Warwickshire

Integrated Care Record (ICR)

An electronic confidential health and care record for people living in Coventry and Warwickshire. Please see below for more information.

ICR Leaflet

ICR Leaflet (Easy Read)

Fair Processing Notice

The fair processing notice explains why our practice collects information about you and how that information may be used and shared.

Fair Processing Notice

You may wish to authorise a representative to speak to the practice on your behalf regarding your medical information.

In order to do this, we require you to complete and sign the form below and return it to the Surgery. You will need to bring with you a form of ID, usually your passport, driving license or birth certificate. If you do not have these documents, please speak to our Reception team about suitable alternatives. We are unable to process your request without sight of your ID.

This will allow your representative to communicate with us about your medical records/information. It will enable them to gain information about you and your medical problems, talk about your care, and give and receive information about you. This includes any unforeseen new medical information. 

The consent does not allow your representative to gain copies of your medical records, sign any consent forms on your behalf, withdraw your care or sign an order to prevent your resuscitation. 

Patient third party consent form – April 2022

What you should reasonably expect from our practice

You will be treated as an individual and will always be given courtesy and respect, irrespective of your ethnic origins, religious beliefs, personal attributes or the nature of your health problems. Staff will maintain your right to privacy and not discuss your illness with other staff or Doctors within hearing distance of other people. Your Doctors and Practice Nurses strive to see you within 30 minutes of your appointment time; where this is not possible, you will receive an explanation for the delay on request.

You have a right to a full explanation of your illness and any tests, investigations or consultations relating to that illness. You must inform us if you do not understand the explanation.

If you require a home visit or out of hours house call, the Doctor or his/her qualified deputy will decide whether to provide advice over the telephone or to visit. Lack of transportation is not a reason for a home visit.

If you have any complaints or concerns relating to the practice, it’s staff or the services offered, please contact a member of the Practice Management team who will investigate and provide a timely response, in line with the Complaints Procedure. A copy of the Complaints Procedure is available from the Reception desk.

Bennfield surgery welcomes both positive and constructive feedback. Comments, concerns or questions can be directed to our Office Manager or Practice Manager.

What the Doctors and Practice Staff should reasonably expect from you

We ask that you always treat Doctors and Practice Staff with courtesy and respect.

Doctors have instructed their Receptionists to ask certain questions so that they may be able to deal with your request in accordance with policies set out by them. The practice operates a zero tolerance to abuse towards its staff.

Please let us know if you change your personal details, address or telephone number as soon as possible. It is important that we can contact you.

If you cannot keep an appointment, please let us know as soon as possible as we can offer this appointment to another patient rather than let it go to waste.

Before requesting a home visit, think seriously whether it is necessary. When requesting a visit, please contact the practice before 10.30am unless a genuine emergency arises later. Out of hours visits should only be requested in an emergency and not for minor illnesses, which can wait until the morning.

We are committed to maintaining good communications and providing a high standard of care to our patients. Helpful suggestions are always welcomed.

All staff members aim to be professional, polite, respectful and helpful to all patients, family members and visitors to the Practice. Our aim is to have a mutual respect between patients and staff to ensure services can be delivered effectively. Our staff understand that people do not always act reasonably when they are ill, and they will take this into consideration when faced with difficult situations.

At Bennfield Surgery we operate a zero-tolerance policy on acts of violence or verbal or physical abuse, to any staff member. Anyone who becomes physically or verbally aggressive or violent will be asked to leave the premises immediately. Failure to do so will result in removal by the Police.

In order to maintain mutual respect between staff members and visitors to the practice, we would ask that patients, family members and visitors are informed of the unacceptable behaviours listed below that may result in them being removed from the practice:

• The use of bad language, including swearing or derogatory language to practice staff.
• Physical violence towards staff or other visitors in the practice.
• Verbal abuse aimed towards staff or indirectly whilst in the practice.
• Racial abuse.
• Sexual harassment.
• Persistent or unrealistic demands that cause stress to staff.
• Causing damage to property or stealing from the practice premises.
• Obtaining drugs and/or medical services fraudulently.

Removal of patients from our practice list is a rare occasion and is seen to be the last resort when a Doctor/Patient relationship has broken down. The only exception is where there has been an act of violence or extreme aggression resulting in Police attendance to the practice; in this instance, immediate removal from the practice list will occur.

In exceptional circumstances it may be relevant to remove the family members of the person who has been removed from the practice, particularly if there has been acts of violence or aggression against the Doctor.

This is to protect the Doctor against any further abuse should a home visit request be made by a family member.

In all cases of abuse towards a staff member, an incident report will be completed and the Practice Manager will be informed. Where it is deemed appropriate, the Practice Manager will write to the patient to remind them of the zero-tolerance policy and to advise them that their behaviour will be monitored. Repeat offences may result in removal from the practice list.